DNA

When interested
in a visual representation of structures, I recommend visiting
a search engine such as Yahoo. Enter the item you are
interested in, into the search window, click on the
"Images" tab, then search.

What is DNA?Why is DNA so special?What are genes?

DNA
deoxyribonucleic acid

DeoxyriboNucleic
Acid

deoxy ribo nucleic acid

deoxy

ribo

nucleic acid

de

oxy

ribose

a polymer
of mononucleotides

without

oxygen

a 5 carbon
sugar

nucleotide

The
5 carbon sugar ribose without the -OH group
on the #2 Carbon

a
nucleoside with acidic phosphates

nucleoside

a nitrogenous base
attached to a pentose sugar

nitrogenous bases
of DNA

purines- adenine,
guaninepyrimidines- thymine,
cytosine

DNA is polymer
of nucleotides, containing the pentose sugar ribose, without oxygen on
the #2 carbon.The nucelotides within
a chain are connected to each other by a chemical bond between the phosphate group
of one nucleotide and the pentose sugar of the other. DNA usually exists in
a double stranded form. The two chains are connected to each other by hydrogen bonds between
the nitrogenous bases.

Each chromosome is a long double-stranded
molecule of DNA.Some sections of a chromosome are
known as genes. Other parts of the chromosomehave no precisely identified function.
They may be important for the timing of geneutilization and thus the coordination
and orchestration of the genome.Each gene is a particular length of
DNA which is the raw code for a protein,or an end product RNA compound.

One protein may be a structural molecule
of the body, such as collagen. Another proteinmaybe a mobile molecule, such as albumin.
Other proteins may be enzymes whichfunction in the assembly of other
types of molecules of the body, such as lipidsand carbohydrates.